Hi, Turtles,
Judy, I understand about weird schedules. Thanks for clarifying that for me. Congratulations on the weight loss! That's wonderful! You're really doing well and you have a great attitude.
About the cookies--I don't bake them and not eat them. I choose lower point foods and have one. Or use banked points or activity points. This recipe makes large bar cookies for 4 points, but if I cut mine in half, it's a nice size serving for 2 points. So, I eat a 2-point serving at lunch or midafternoon and a 2-point serving after dinner. Two treats for the price of one! Cool, huh?
Your leader gave you some great advice! Losing the weight isn't the only goal we have. Learning how to keep off what we've lost is more important, I think. If we don't learn that, we never get out of the weight loss phase because we get into the yo-yo trap.
I want to share a couple of things that have been on my mind. First, a quote--Al, Dotti's husband (from Dotti's Weight Loss Zone) wrote in a thread yesterday "The single most common reason for failure in weight loss attempts is impatience." He was talking about people quitting because of disappointment with the scale numbers. And he recommended persistence in following the program. It seemed very turtlish, so I thought I'd share it. Something to think about.
The other thing that seems to be on my mind is the concept of "red light foods." Probably because of thinking about the ancient WW idea of "legal" and "illegal" foods. And how the holidays are often full of foods that are on a lot of people's red light lists.
It seems to me that the very concept of having red light foods is conterproductive to successfully losing and maintaining a weight loss. A red light food is something we can't have around without overeating it. Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. We have decided, just by putting it on our "red light food list" that we cannot control our response to those foods.
It seems to me that if we can decide that we can't control our response to those certain foods, we can decide that we can control our response to them. All we have to do is work on changing the habit of overeating those foods into a habit of NOT overeating those foods.
The ultimate question is how do we do that? First we have to believe that we can. (See my signature line.
As long as we persist in the notion that there exist foods that we cannot eat within the limits of our program, there will be. If we think there aren't, there won't be.
Then we have to think as carefully about eating our "red light foods" as we do about eating our other foods. People often post that when it's a red light food, they've eaten an astronomical amount "without even realizing what they were doing." That is a key to solving the problem. We have to pay equal attention to all of the foods we eat, no matter whether it's a vegetble or a doughnut.
What do we do when a food is NOT a red light food? We count out the amount we want to eat and subtract the points from our total. What can we do with food that is a red light food? Put the portion we want to eat on a plate and subtract the points from our total. That's simple. We treat all foods the same way when we're following our weight loss/maintenance program. We usually set priorities in choosing which foods to eat so that we are choosing a balanced plan that will retain our good health. But we include all foods that appeal to us in whatever portion size and however often we can without messing up our food plan.
That's a very freeing concept because it allows us to stop a very destructive cycle. The cycle: People will report that they went to a party and there it was or someone in their family ignored the rule about bringing certain foods into the house, which sabotages their efforts. And they overeat that food, because it's on the red light food list and they EXPECT to overeat that food. Then they feel guilty. They get upset about going off program. Many times it leads to further bingeing and soon they're some amount of pounds heavier and starting over, but feeling like a failure instead of a success.
But if there are no red light foods--then there are no foods that we automatically overeat. And that destructive cycle never starts.
I think that was part of the reason WW has abandoned the concept of forbidden foods. Because forbidden foods often lead to a binge or pattern of going off program. With no forbidden foods, we can create a lifestyle we can live with the rest of our lives much more easily.
The other problem with this concept is that it puts the responsibility on the food, instead of on the eater. "It's the food's fault because it's so good I can't control myself." Or "I'm a victim of that food. I cannot handle it. I try, but. . . " Well, Yoda's quote seems to deal with this aspect. Either we do handle it or we do not. We can't "try". And we make the decision, not the food. It's just there.
Anyway, those are the thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain the past couple of days. It's weird, too, because I haven't had a red light food list since I went to an OA meeting around 15-20 years ago. A woman there had a ridiculously long list. (50 or 100 or more foods!) And she was so proud of how long that list was. I got the feeling she was planning to add to it. It seemed so silly to me. And it wasn't helping her to control her obsession; it was fueling it.
That meeting was one of the triggers for my determination never to diet again. And to look at food differently. To see it as nourishment for my body. And to embrace the pleasure of it. I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life being enemies with the food I needed to eat to stay alive.
So, WW points allows me to reach all of my goals. To enjoy preparing food for myself and other people. To have a healthy eating plan and a fun one. And, BTW, you can lose and maintain a healthy weight while doing it. If they hadn't come up with this totally flexible point system, I probably would have stayed at 272 forever, unless I gained weight!
And the point slider for exercise is the best innovation because it shows me better than anything esle the benefits of doing my walks.
Today I'm still OP and my weight is holding steady, which is marvelous since it's PMS water retention week. I didn't manage a walk yesterday, but I'm going on one in about 20 minutes today. The sun is back and it's a great day for a walk, too.
Have a great day, everyone!
Happy turtlin'!
Lin
272/237/135 or so
I HATE going to the dentist now, since I've become difficult to numb up. Bleah! Now I need to make an appointment to see a regular doctor too, since I haven't been for, gee, more than 3 years. Should get a mammogram too; I've never had one. So much to look forward to.